BRI police officers arrested a family at their home in Eure on Monday. At the end of their intervention, which lasted around thirty minutes, they finally left without a word, according to testimony.
While the research and intervention brigade (BRI) carried out a search operation which made it possible to arrest 17 people suspected of damage committed on the site of the Lafarge cement manufacturer, located in Val-de-Reuil in Eure in Last December, a family from a residential community near Rouen had the unpleasant surprise of being arrested by mistake at their home near Rouen by police officers.
As reported by France Info, shortly before 6 a.m. this Monday, April 8, a truck driver in his fifties was preparing to leave his home to go to work, when he came across a BRI brigade. Around twenty police officers stationed in front of his door, masked, hooded and armed, were ready to break down his door. The man, believing in a mistake, first asked the police for explanations before telling them that he had only moved in with his family 3 months ago. The BRI men ended up entering the house before arresting him, his wife and their 18-year-old son.
“They put me on my knees, my hands in the air and they handcuffed me,” the driver’s companion told France Info. Still shocked, she denounces the lack of humanity and consideration that the police had for her: “I was half naked, they were immediately violent and very aggressive. I asked them if at least I could dress up and then it drove them crazy […]. I asked them what was happening, I was shaking, I was crying. Nothing, not a word.”
For his part, their son was woken up by the police who “pulled” his duvet, before being handcuffed in turn. The teenager studying psychology, who did not understand what was happening to him, did not find “the strength” to go to his exam which took place the same day. Finally, after checking their identities, the police removed their handcuffs before leaving, without explanation or apology, the Norman family’s home.
An error by the police, due to a change of address
According to the couple, they left saying: “Good luck for the future, it’s not going to be easy.” Later that day, a police officer called them for a final check and reportedly said, “To err is human.” For his part, the public prosecutor of Evreux, Rémi Coutin confirms an error by the police services due to “the change of address of the person that the police sought to arrest in the town”. Finding the situation “regrettable”, he said he was “sorry”.
Tuesday morning, although everyone was able to return to work or to university, the driver jokes that he still started by looking when leaving his house to see if there was anyone there. The family, still marked by this thirty-minute mishap, has contacted a lawyer and plans to initiate compensation proceedings.